Kensington (Olympia) station in West London is managed and served by London Overground and also served by London Underground.

On the Underground it is the terminus of a short District Line branch, built as part of the Middle Circle, from Earl's Court; on the main-line railway it is on the West London Line from Clapham Junction to Willesden Junction, by which many trains bypass Central London.

A station was opened by the West London Railway as its southern terminus on 27 May 1844 as Kensington, just south of Hammersmith Road; it closed at the end of November 1844 due to the losses made. A scant and erratic goods service continued, the line re-opened to passengers with a new station called Addison Road on 2 June 1862, to the north of Hammersmith Road. Great Western Railway trains started serving the station in 1863, with London & North Western Railway trains arriving in 1872. A link to the Hammersmith & City Railway enabled the Middle Circle service to operate via Paddington to the north and South Kensington to the south. From 1869, the London & South Western Railway operated trains from Richmond to London Waterloo via Addison Road, until their branch via Shepherd's Bush closed in 1916. By 1907 the Middle Circle had been replaced by four Hammersmith & City line trains an hour.

The station appears on the first 'London Underground' map in 1908 with Metropolitan and District Railway services.

In 1940, Addison Road and the link to the Metropolitan line at Latimer Road closed along with the other West London Line stations, In 1946 it was renamed Kensington (Olympia) and became the northern terminus of a peak-hour shuttle service to Clapham Junction, which was mainly for workers at the Post Office Savings Bank (later National Savings Bank) in nearby Blythe Road. There was also a District line shuttle to Earl's Court.

The current District line bay platform opened in 1958, but the 1872 connection between the District and the main line south of the station was not finally lifted until 1992.

For many years the passenger service was only a few peak-hour main-line trains to and from Clapham Junction, with Underground trains only during exhibition times. The West London Line has always been a main freight route from north of London to the south-east of England.

Between 1979 and 2008 the Clapham Junction service was supplemented by a Cross Country route from Brighton to Birmingham New Street extending to Derby, Edinburgh Waverley, Glasgow Central, Liverpool Lime Street and Manchester Piccadilly. Cross Country services also called at Kensington Olympia on services from the north to Eastbourne, Folkestone Central and Ramsgate at various times.

There were two bay platforms on the south-eastern side mainly used by services from Clapham Junction. In the early 1990s these were filled in and the southbound platform loop closed, with a shorter platform on the sothbound main line built over the loop - longer southbound trains now cross to the northbound loop to stop. The land behind the southbound platform was sold for redevelopment.

There were an Express Dairies creamery and milk bottling plant close to the station served by milk trains from the Great Western Railway from Old Oak Common to a siding adjacent to the station.

In the event of nuclear war seeming imminent, the station was the designated London muster point for staff in transit to the Central Government War Headquarters (Codenamed Burlington).

In 1994, a full passenger service between Willesden Junction and Clapham Junction was reinstated after a gap of 54 years.

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Ian Gammons

Added: 3 Apr 2018 08:08 GMT

IP: 81.131.100.203

2:1:172

Post by Ian Gammons: Pamber Street, W10Born in Pamber Street but moved to Harlow, Essex in 1958 when I was three years old. The air wasn?t clean in London and we had to move to cleaner air in Harlow - a new town with very clean air!

Vallie Webster

Added: 16 Mar 2018 03:39 GMT

IP: 142.114.172.35

2:2:172

Post by Vallie Webster: Tunis Road, W12I visited my grandmother who lived on Tunis Road from Canada in approximately 1967-68. I remember the Rag and Bone man who came down the road with a horse and milk delivered to the door with cream on the top. I also remember having to use an outhouse in the back of the row house. No indoor plumbing. We had to have a bath in a big metal tub (like a horse trough) in the middle of the kitchen filled with boiled water on the stove. Very different from Canada. My moms madin name was Hardcastle. Interesting to see the maps. Google maps also brings the world closer.

Norman Norrington

Added: 19 Jan 2018 14:49 GMT

IP: 90.194.159.199

2:3:172

Post by Norman Norrington: Blechynden Street, W10In the photo of Blechynden St on the right hand side the young man in the doorway could be me. That is the doorway of 40 Blechynden St.

I lived there with My Mum Eileen and Dad Bert and Brothers Ron & Peter. I was Born in Du Cane Rd Hosp. Now Hammersmith Hosp.

Left there with my Wife Margaret and Daughter Helen and moved to Stevenage. Mum and Dad are sadly gone.

I now live on my own in Bedfordshire, Ron in Willesden and Pete in Hayling Island.

Have many happy memories of the area and go back 3/4 times a year now 75 but it pulls back me still.

BRIAN WYBROW Ph.D. (Lond.)

Added: 27 Dec 2017 14:48 GMT

IP: 81.155.184.148

2:4:172

Post by BRIAN WYBROW Ph.D. (Lond.): Maxilla Gardens, W10I lived at 11A Maxilla Gardens W10 (now partly gone, but what is left is called Maxilla Walk).
I have provided an account of life in Maxilla gardens on the following website; so, to avoid repetition, please visit this link:

Post by Mary Harris: 31 Princedale Road, W11John and I were married in 1960 and we bought, or rather acquired a mortgage on 31 Princedale Road in 1961 for £5,760 plus another two thousand for updating plumbing and wiring, and installing central heating, a condition of our mortgage. It was the top of what we could afford.

We chose the neighbourhood by putting a compass point on John’s office in the City and drawing a reasonable travelling circle round it because we didn’t want him to commute. I had recently returned from university in Nigeria, where I was the only white undergraduate and where I had read a lot of African history in addition to the subject I was studying, and John was still recovering from being a prisoner-of-war of the Japanese in the Far East in WW2. This is why we rejected advice from all sorts of people not to move into an area where there had so recently bee

Post by Susan Wright: Bramley Mews, W10My Great Grandmother Ada Crowe was born in 9 Bramley Mews in 1876.

LDNnews

Added: 24 May 2018 04:00 GMT

IP:

3:7:172

Post by LDNnews: Barons CourtScotland Yard assessing allegation of misconduct in public office against Speaker John BercowPolice are assessing an allegation of misconduct in public office against Commons Speaker John Bercow.

Post by LDNnews: Barons CourtRuthless organised crime gangs are 'driving the surge in violence on London's streets'Crime groups such as the Albanian mafia are importing Class A drugs into London and fuelling turf wars, a top UK law enforcement official has said

Post by LDNnews: West BromptonHarry Kane says England can be inspired to win World Cup by Liverpool's run to Champions League final Harry Kane says England can take inspiration from Liverpool’s run to the Champions League final when they compete at the World Cup.

Post by LDNnews: Earls CourtLondon Burlesque Festival (25th May 18 to 26th May 18)Founded by the internationally acclaimed producer and burlesque pioneer, Chaz Royal, London Burlesque Festival acts as a centre stage for the world’s finest performers, raising the global profile of b...

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LOCATIONS ON THE UNDERGROUND MAP

Blythe House: Blythe House is a listed building located at 23 Blythe Road, West Kensington.Cadby Hall: Cadby Hall was a major office and factory complex in Hammersmith, London which was the headquarters of pioneering catering company Joseph Lyons and Co. for almost a century.Cape Nursery: The Cape Nursery once lay along the south side of Shepherd’s Bush Green.Holland Park: Holland Park is a district, an underground station (and indeed a park) in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.Holland Park: St Barnabas’ Church: St Barnabas’ Church is a church in Kensington.

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